


After effects

by haha_asthma



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Friendship, Gen, PTSD, Some angst, also lotsa fluff, but i mean it could happen in canon so, but its not the main point so not exactly a highschool au, claus and ness could actually get along very well, focuses more on relationships than school, i might do half oneshots half actual storytelling, it is kinda a school au, ness and lucas become besties, not my first fanfic but my first fanfic on here, platonic nesscas and cless only if you squint, self harm warning, some characters are only mentioned lmao, spoiler warning, there is suicide mentions, this has school in it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 09:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haha_asthma/pseuds/haha_asthma
Summary: After the painful adventure that took place two months ago, Kumatora and Duster decide to rent a house to share in eagleland in hopes of Lucas and Claus rebuilding a happier life. The four share a place in a quiet town called onett, where the twins end up needing to enrol into a school. As they start their first day, Kumatora begins to realise that they may not be the only psi users in the area.
Relationships: Claus & Kumatora (Mother 3), Claus & Lucas (Mother 3), Lucas (Mother 3) & Ness (Mother 2), Ness (mother 2) & Claus (mother 3
Comments: 15
Kudos: 44





	1. the scent of sunflowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i just finished mother 3 and holy crap. ya'll will have to wait a little for chapter three because HHHHHHH

A lovely aroma flew through the gentle breeze, lifting yellow petals dancing through the air. 

The blond’s eyelids grew heavy, but the sunlight urged him to wake. Slowly, he sat up with half lidded eyes, several petals brushing his pale-ish arms.

Lucas was soon awakened by someone, presumably his brother, who was softly calling his name. The blond groaned, rubbing his eyes and sending an agitated look his brother’s way, 

“why’d you have to wake me Claus? It’s not like we’ll be in Eagleland in 15 minutes or something, the flight should take at least a few hours…” Lucas remarked with a sigh. 

“You really underestimate how long you can sleep Luke, there's like 30 minutes left in the flight dude.” Kumatora replied, giving her friend a light jab as Claus giggled in the background.

Lucas’ brother really had changed a bit through those 3 years and few months.

His hair was longer than his ten-year-old self, becoming more wild, yet still somewhat boyishly short. He grew taller than Lucas by at least around five centimetres, and seemed to have more freckles adorned not only on his cheeks, but also along the bridge of his nose. Surprisingly, they found later on he hadn’t been cybernised, yet he gained a few scars (fortunately not very noticeable ones) ranging from 5cms or less. One on his left arm, two just below his right shoulder, three on his left leg, and one on his right ankle. 

Claus still almost exactly replicated Lucas in every way, that much stayed the same.

Except his expression.

Normally he’d have light evident in his eyes, his face constantly displaying excitement and wonder, always ready for what the world gave him.

Until the world gave him things he couldn’t handle. 

Currently, he was still himself somewhat, still not showing his inner demons, but he was quite obviously still recovering from those three years of being a mindless commander. 

Claus had become a lot more serious and cold, He had gained several fears and slight lacking of emotion, but he still attempted to laugh and joke about things, trying to reconnect to his past self it seemed.

It hurt Lucas to see his brother like this, even over the relief that after so many years of telling himself ‘Claus isn’t coming back’ that he could finally enjoy his twin’s company again.

That’s why he tried his hardest to comfort his brother when he seemed even the slightest bit down, making extra efforts to avoid any mention of trauma, and rather, try to treat everything a little less seriously. 

Claus liked that, it seemed to help him act more like his old self.

“You coulda let me sleep 15 more minutes though- …..w-what? What’s so funny?”

Lucas gave a look of confusion as Kumatora and Claus sniggered to themselves in amusement.

The redhead pointed a finger at his twin’s yellow locks, a smirk spread across his face,

“your bed-hair! It never ceases to amaze me.” 

Claus replied, a fist placed in front of his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter.

Lucas only groaned in reply and turned his back away from his laughing brother and friend in agitation. 

He might’ve been annoyed, but internally he was thankful that his twin was beginning to show the brother he’d known until he was ten.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------  
The house they now stayed in was located in a lush, yet modern town named Onett. It was peaceful, yet social, and smelled both of trees and flowers.

The view of the town was best upon a hilltop a little north of the library (Lucas was particularly looking forward to checking that out), which, luckily enough for them, was exactly near where their house was located.

The place they rented out was one built a 2 minute walk away from where a fallen meteor had crashed, which simultaneously was where the 5 star view of Onett was placed. The four, with their added advantage of psychic abilities, were planning on getting their little house in order in a single day, but even with their telekinesis, it proved a hard job to do, regardless of being a psychic or not.

Especially when using psi was definitely not restraint-less, and as such, tired them out when using too much of it. 

“Where’d Claus go off to? I hope he’s not avoiding work, the little bastard..” 

the pink haired tomboy said as several boxes engulfed in her aura floated to her side.

Lucas’ brows furrowed with concern, “yeah, where is he? And wherever he’s going, shouldn’t we make sure he doesn’t go alone?”

the young teen remarked, several undesired thoughts now clogging his mind.

The oldest of the four limped out of the kitchen, setting down a heavy box formerly in his arms,

“he said he wasn’t feeling well, so I suggested he familiarised himself with the new setting. It’s been two months Lucas, I think Claus will be ok. And regardless..”

the adult sent a soft look the child’s way,

“He said he’d be back in around 15 minutes anyways..” Duster replied, resuming his job. 

Lucas grimaced as he coated more objects in his aura, a heavy question sitting on his tongue.

Kumatora perked up at this, noticing the sudden rise of tension in the air,

“hey Luke? You ok buddy? Something on your mind?” she asked concern evident in her voice.

He attempted to swallow his anxiety, then took a deep breath in,

“d-do.. Do you think.. do you think..”

he exhaled, his words becoming heavier,

“do you think Claus is happy here? I mean, with us… alive? Maybe he’d still rather be… I don’t know..” 

Lucas remarked, emotional strain evident in his voice.

Kumatora sighed, racking her brain for the appropriate response,

“can’t you see Lucas?

He adores every minute with you! And he’s been the goofball you described him to be a lot more often! I’m sure he’s fine!” 

she replied, punching the blonde lightly in the shoulder.

He sighed, and continued to organise several objects lying around the room, still doubtful, but feeling supported nonetheless.

“Y-yeah… thanks..” Lucas stuttered, thinking he should ask his brother later anyways, just in case.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------&l  
After a day of hard work, they all proudly met their quota for the day.

The house was organised, and set to become a place they could spend most of their time living in.

Claus gazed up at blank ceiling above him, his orange hair spreading out over his pillow.

“Psychic powers make everything so much easier huh?”

he said as his eyes basked in the warm blanket of darkness.

“Yeah it’s weird to think you actually learned psi earlier-

...um.. Never mind..”

Lucas cut himself off, in an attempt not to mention any possible triggers for past traumas.

The blond sat atop his bed, hugging his knees, seemingly not ready to go to sleep yet.

The slightly older of the twins glanced at his brother with a soft look in his eyes,

“Lucas, just talking about how I got my psi earlier is ok.. No big deal…”

he lied, receiving few unsettling memories not long after. 

The blond sighed and rolled his eyes, although it was unnoticeable through the darkness of the room,

“Claus, whether you deny it or not, I know for a fact that talking about certain things hurts you greatly. And so until you seem to be ok about it I won’t stop being cautious about what I say.” Lucas replied, seemingly slightly agitated.

His orange-haired twin uttered a soft ‘sorry’, the atmosphere becoming incredibly awkward not long after.

Silence swallowed any sound that dared to be made, which could have been an indicator that it was indeed time to go to bed.

But Lucas wouldn’t be able to sleep.<

Not until he had that question jabbing his thoughts out of his head and into the open air for his brother to hear.

“Claus?”

Lucas said as the words that escaped his mouth cut through the cold silence like a knife.

Some shuffling was heard from Claus’ side of the bedroom,

“yeah?”

he replied, this time with his voice carefully lowered.

A period of hesitation took place before the conversation continued,

“Do….

you regret living...?

Would….

..you have rather been dead like your original plan...?

I want you to answer honestly, even if it’s harsh…"

Lucas remarked, slightly choking up. 

There was a moment of silence before a sigh could be heard from the other side of the room.

“Has this been haunting you the whole day?” Claus responded.

It didn’t take Lucas long to answer this time,

“Kinda…” he answered reluctantly.

The orange haired teen sighed,

“I’m a bit embarrassed to say this but…”

Claus giggled to himself, but more out of pain then humour,

“I’m actually not suicidal at all.

To be honest, ever since I woke up at the hospital after shooting myself with lightning, I was terrified of death.  
So much so that I kept myself up several nights because of it.

And that wasn’t even the scariest part.

When I saw you after waking up in the hospital, you looked so full of pain.. And dread.. And.. and..

I just wanted to cry my eyes out and never leave your side again.

Then when we started to catch up, I realised just how much I felt deprived of your company…”

Claus breathed out, this time a smile entering his face and warmth growing in his chest,

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy to live. But finally getting a second chance to live my life with you makes me really happy, and I wouldn't change how it turned out for the world.”

he remarked, turning to his brother with glassy eyes.

Lucas sniffled and wiped his eyes aggressively, trying to get rid of his unwanted tears.

He wasn’t a crybaby anymore!

He shouldn’t be crying!

He thought to himself.

While he was attempting to stifle his overflowing emotions, shuffling sounded from the other side of the room.

Soon enough, Claus invited himself into Lucas’ bed, lying down next to him, regardless of Lucas sitting up atop the bed, not even in it himself yet.

“What are you doing?”

Lucas asked his brother as he proceeded to hide his tear ridden face from him.

“Protecting you from nightmares. Get into bed already. That position is uncomfortable.”

Claus replied matter-of-factly.

Lucas stopped wiping his tears and giggled,

“I don’t need protecting you dummy! you should be more worried protecting yourself. I might accidentally kick you.”

the blond sniffled before slipping into bed next to his brother.

Claus sniggered,

“I’ll be fine!” he joked. 

Silence once again infected the room.

This time though, it was warm and sweet,

a comforting darkness accompanying it, as the twins snored softly in unison, the parts of themselves they felt were missing for the past 3 years finally returning.

With that, the weekend came to a close, the concept of dealing with school not even slightly been given thought even once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If your wondering how Claus is alive in this story, i thought he would've survived in the end because of how exposed his body was to electricity, which i think gives him a good chance to live. also Claus is not at all robotic in this, and despite me thinking that it's also just as possible for him to have been partially mechanised, i think, considering his sprite after he takes off his gear, it's quite plausible that he's also completely ok.


	2. the need not to be social

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long! but it's finally done! chapter 2! thanks so much for the encouraging comments you guys left in chapter 1! I really appreciate it! and i'm glad some of ya'll are enjoying it!

“But we have new neighbours mom! I don’t wanna go to school! I wanna see what they’re like!” Tracy groaned as her mom slung her backpack gently over her shoulders. 

Her mom sighed, smiling and shaking her head in disapproval, “sweetie, the neighbour’s kids will be at school today too. If you stayed at home, you wouldn’t be able to see them.” she remarked, giggling a little to herself.

Tracy’s young eyes widened in realisation, “WELL I BETTER HURRY THEN!” she huffed, “MAYBE I CAN CATCH THEM GOING TO SCHOOL! SEEYALATERMOMBYYYEEEE-” the young girl shouted as she sped out the door in a hurry. 

“How much energy does that girl have?” Tracy’s mom grinned, before turning her head to quiet tapping of feet. 

The small boy behind her with jet black hair rubbed his lack-of-sleep ridden eyes, “did I oversleep again?” he groaned, his voice rough from just waking, yet high and soft at the same time. 

She bent over to her son and ruffled his (very normally) messy hair affectionately, “it’s ok sweetie, you can sleep some more if you want.” his mom remarked softly, gently moving his hair out of his eyes. 

He shook his head, eyes still squinted from being recently untrained for light, “it’s ok, i’ll get dressed. Maybe i’ll still make it.” the boy began walking the other direction before stopping mid-journey and turning around, “love you mom,” he remarked with a small smile, his purple eyes glittering.

“I love you too sweetie,” she replied blowing a kiss.

Tracy wondered on her way to school about the neighbours. 

‘What were they like? Would they be her age? Or her brother’s? Would they be nice like Picky? Or nasty like Pokey?’ she thought as questions poured out of her mind.

Luckily enough for her, Lucas and Claus were walking through her street, currently both a little confused and anxious about the school system they would soon have to figure out the ins and outs of. 

“It’s ok Claus, we won’t have to socialise straight away or anything! You can wait as long as you want before you talk to anyone.” Lucas remarked as he continued to attempt to console his brother, like he had done the whole morning. 

Anxiety crossed the older twin’s features as his eyes darted around restlessly, “but what if someone just straight up introduced themselves to me? Then I don’t have a choice and I have to be around them! Lucas I haven’t talked normally to people other than you or Kumatora or Duster in like 3 years-” 

the ginger’s eyes widened in shock as a small girl not too many centimetres in front of him looked him straight in the eyes, unblinking. 

He jumped in surprise, the first plan of action to hold on to his brother, but of course, he would've wanted to keep his reputation. He suppressed the temptation, and froze in place instead, unsure of what to do. 

Lucas on the other hand seemed nervous, but confident in talking to this new girl who had just decided to have a staring contest with his brother. 

He put on the kindest face he could muster and smiled gently, “hello, who are you?” the blond asked, hoping this would give his twin a little more confidence. 

The girl didn’t move her gaze, staring Claus down intensely with seemingly no signs of stopping. “WHOA. your hair’s orange? Is it natural or dyed? It’s super weird.” she finally replied after several awkward seconds of glaring. 

“Um…” Claus mumbled, looking at his brother for guidance. 

“Well. I can see you have no interest in me.” the younger of the twins remarked sternly, very unimpressed with the treatment he was just given. 

There was no animosity behind his words, yet back in Tazmily it had recently been common behaviour to act the way the girl had. They were adults who would look down on him with pity, and he wanted to avoid any toxic people early on. This girl could’ve been the first, and he would have no problem rejecting her then and there. 

She stopped looking at Claus and turned her gaze to Lucas, “I’m not ignoring you, you just have blonde hair like me, which is super common, but i’ve never seen someone with orange hair before. And so it’s strange and interesting and it’s weird.” Tracy replied, her burning gaze returning to the ginger. 

‘Oh. she’s just a kid being a kid that’s all.’ Lucas thought to himself, bringing back a softer expression to his face. 

The blond soon read his brother’s face of pure horror, soon deciding to make things a little easier for him by making the situation less serious. “Well Claus? Do you dye your hair? Or is it natural?” Lucas grinned, as his brother soon made a face of betrayal as a result.

“What do you mean is it dyed? It’s natural dummy! Even you know that!” Claus retorted with a jab of disgust in his voice. 

“That’s weird. But also cool. Are you our new neighbours? How old are you two? Are you twins? Claus is a cool name, what’s the blond one’s name? Oh and you have dots on your face like my brother, except yours are brighter, do you have them all over your body? Or just on your face? Oh hey those are cool scars where’d you get-” 

“WHOA. That’s too much! Your going too fast! Your crazy if you think Lucas and I can answer all those questions at once!” Claus interrupted, panic evident in his voice.

“That’s one of the Questions answered. The blond one’s Lucas.” 

Tracy replied with a smug grin. 

The ginger sighed in defeat as his brother laughed,

“tell ya what,” Lucas said bending down to Tracy’s level “your on your way to the school here in Onett right?”. 

Tracy nodded. 

“Well Claus and I don’t know where it is. So how about this? You show us the way to the school, and we can answer your list of questions.” the blond replied with a grin. 

“Seriously? It’s like right over there, you can see it from here, we’re on a hilltop.” Tracy replied with an unimpressed look on her face. 

Claus groaned, “and how are we supposed to know what building is what?” he remarked with both anxiety and visible frustration. 

“You look at the one crowded with kids dummy.” she rolled her eyes. 

The red head growled lightly as Tracy proceeded to attempt to look innocent. 

Lucas’ brows furrowed with agitation, “we’ll all be late if we keep this up, will you help us out or not?” the blond snapped lightly, crossing his arms as the two turned their heads around. 

“Fine. deal. I’m walking there anyways, so you coulda just followed me. I’m Tracy by the way. Don’t tell me your names I already know.” Tracy said matter-of-factly.

Claus sighed heavily, his skin prickling and tingling uncomfortably, while Lucas smiled. 

“Well, nice to meet you. Just start walking, we’ll follow and i’ll answer your questions.” the blond replied, pulling his arm over his brother’s shoulder in an attempt at calming him down.

“Well you live on this hill don’t you? Then yes we must be neighbours. Yes, Claus and I are twins, we’re 12 turning 13.” Lucas said as they began to follow Tracy. 

Claus remained silent and grumpy as the girl gasped in surprise, “your my brother’s age! Oh, I hope your not super weird like him.” Tracy retorted with a tinge of disgust. 

Lucas, unlike Claus, hadn’t explored the area yet, and was quite enjoying the scenery. He had gotten distracted for most of the way before Tracy had to loudly clear her throat and remind the blond to fulfil his side of the deal. 

“Oh! Well, anyways.. Claus has more freckles than me, but both of us only have it on our faces. As for the scars Claus has…” 

Lucas turned to his brother to see his pupils shrinking, and his head turning away as his pace quickened, 

“well.. that's.. private.” 

Tracy made a face at Lucas as they stopped in front of a crowded building,

“private is annoying. Well anyways, here we are. Enjoy your boredom I guess.” the girl waved off without saying another word. 

The young psychic gazed curiously at his new surroundings as Claus paced around restlessly, fiddling with his hands. 

“See Claus? It’s not nearly as bad as we thought it would be!” 

the blond’s smile faded as he noticed his brother’s clear discomfort, 

“Claus? Don’t worry, we’ve got a while till school starts anyways, and hey look! Kumatora’s already here!” Lucas said, waving at his approaching pink-haired friend.

“Sup boys! Claus you holding up ok?” she remarked, greeting Lucas with a friendly noogie. 

The ginger bit his nails, suppressing his many concerns,

“i’m… ok.” 

he muttered, giving up his reputation as he reached for his brother’s hand for support. 

She ruffled Claus’ hair affectionately, 

“pfff, doesn’t look like it! Looks as if your drowning in sweat!” the young adult giggled as Lucas gave her an uncomfortable look. 

Although suddenly, she stopped laughing. 

Not because the joke wasn’t funny anymore, it was something else.

Something that would tempt to drain all colour in her face.

The atmosphere turned deadly serious as she turned her head to look around.

“can you feel that?”

she hesitated before squinting her eyes sternly, 

“there’s another psi user here”. 

Lucas’ brows furrowed, 

“a psychic? Here?” he whispered as to not draw any attention to himself. 

Kumatora’s expression suddenly softened as her gaze returned to the twins, like whatever sharp feeling she had felt before had just left altogether 

“it’s ok, you don’t need to worry about it. Just be aware not to mess with anyone, cause I can’t tell exactly, but this guy seems to have psi strong enough that it could compare with yours”.

Kumatora talked a little while longer to the twins, and soon waved them off after giving them tight hugs.

The hallways bustled with people of all different sizes, races and body-types, all mainly young and loud. 

Claus held on to Lucas tightly for dear life, and he hated it. 

He hated feeling so weak and small just because of his traumas. 

‘Why oh why did I have to go off and avenge mom huh?’ he thought to himself, despising the consequences of his past actions.

Claus had almost never felt so powerless in his life, discounting the time when he regained his thoughts and removed his helmet, facing his brother with pain prickling at his body. 

Lucas stopped at the side of the hallway after looking through both their timetables, “Claus, sorry to say but we’re in different rooms,” he said handing a piece of paper holding their subjects and classroom locations to his brother.

The ginger hesitated before giving a sad smile, 

“i-it’s alright Lucas.. I’ll be ok! Like you said! It’s nothing to worry about!” the young psychic remarked, attempting to hide his panic behind words of encouragement, in the hopes of not worrying his brother. 

Lucas, having lived with his brother most of his life, saw through his lies instantly. 

“I know your not ok Claus, but your my strong older brother, and I know you’ll do great, because hey, i’m scared too! Meeting new people my age is tough! But i’ll get through it and so will you! And think, maybe you’ll find someone you love being around?” the younger of the twins smiled softly, in truth, not really knowing how to dampen his brother’s rising panic.

Claus let go of Lucas gently and gave him a pained look,

“ok.. Thanks.. I guess i’ll see you later?” 

he asked, his eyes cast downwards, unable to face his brother’s. 

“Yep, good luck!” Lucas waved, beginning to walk the other direction.

“Good luck…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m going to refer to ness’ mom as just mom. I don’t feel comfy giving her a name that isn’t her despite alot of people doing so to her comfortably. i assume you guys know tracy? if you haven't played mother 2 or just don't know her, she's ness' younger sister. i headcanon her to be like 7? well anyways she's a nice girl but she's also a gremlin.


	3. purple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. also when i refer to the word 'raven' or 'raven haired' i'm talking about someone bearing black hair. thanks to all the people who commented on chapter 2 as well! and thanks for all the kudos! i really appreciate it!  
update: it might take a little long for the next chapter, as now i am busy with school.

Several footsteps echoed through the hallway. 

Loud chattering from every direction followed. 

The blond held the straps of his backpack tight, walking at a restless, yet fairly normal pace.

He turned his head frantically from side to side, reading rooms and their numbers as fast as his brain could process. 

As he was walking, he noticed four people walking towards him. 

Their expressions seemed familiar, almost identical to the faces of Fassad and Porky. By the way they were talking, they most probably acted the same way as them too. 

The young psychic decided to trust his intuition and tried to walk out of their way.

Only one problem. 

They blocked the hallway and didn’t seem to care who they were knocking into in the process, already a few students were pushed quite violently. 

Lucas was about to ask them as peacefully as possible to kindly move out of the way, (regardless of the boiling agitation building up beneath him) but they had unfortunately beat him to it, forcefully bumping into him. 

The shortest one shot a confident glare at Lucas,

“hey blondy, your in the way. M o v e.” 

he said arrogance coating his tone. 

‘What a brat. This isn’t your school.’ the psychic thought before ignoring them and attempting to slide past. 

The boy who he tried to walk past pushed him before he could get any further 

“hey! Don’t ignore him! He’s talking to you idiot!” 

this one of the four was chubby, and resembled Porky a little too much for Lucas’ comfort. 

He cleared his throat, 

“I’m not in your way. You're in everyone’s way. You're blocking the hallway! What are you expecting? Someone not to bump into you?” Lucas responded coarsely, aiming to be stern, not mean.

This response alone changed the four’s expressions from overconfidence to disgust, as the surrounding people in the hallways turned their heads or walked away in fear of involvement.

“What did you say? We’re in your way?” one of them said as the others scoffed or laughed. 

The short one who had talked beforehand walked closer to Lucas, most likely for intimidation. 

He didn’t feel intimidated.

Anxious maybe. He was just a kid, and it was his first day of school, something he had simultaneously feared and anticipated. 

He really didn’t want to get into a fight, but if he had to he would. And he would not hesitate to use psi to defend himself.

“I don’t really think you know the rules around here blondy, Out. The. Way.” The short one hissed. 

Lucas rolled his eyes, now getting a little impatient and agitated “what? Do YOU make the rules? Because I doubt that.” he retorted simply, gliding past the boy, reattempting to walk around his other friends. 

The gang couldn’t let this boy get away with his confidence. 

He threatened their rule and dominance. If he wouldn’t be taken care of now, people could start standing up to them, and then they’d be screwed. 

They needed to knock the fearlessness out of him. 

The psychic felt himself freeze as one of them put a firm hand on his shoulder,

“I don’t think you get it. WE make the rules here. And if you don’t follow ‘em. We might just have to knock a few of your teeth out. So let's do this the easy way. GET. OUT. OF OUR WAY.” the tall girl growled, her grip tightening violently on Lucas.

The boy tensed, not planning to run away. 

He wasn’t scared. 

He could beat them 20-0. 

He had psi. 

They didn't. 

He then remembered Kuma warning him and his brother about there being a psychic in the school. 

‘Not a problem.’ He thought, ‘It’s not like I haven’t fought psychics before’. 

One of his hands glowed faintly, while the other flicked the arm of the girl off of his shoulder. 

Lucas stared at them coldly, almost challenging them. 

One part of him kind of wanted this. 

Wanted to prove that he wasn’t weak. 

Prove that he shouldn’t be messed with. 

The gang understood his gesture of defiance, flashing violent grins and beginning to edge closer.

“I hope you never forget this blondy, because we definitely won’t. And we won’t hesitate to do it again if you misbehave.” 

Lucas let his psi flow stronger through his veins, his heart pace accelerating as he prepared for contact “is that so?” 

One boy in the hallway neither turned his head nor went off. 

He had arrived not long ago, just running into this situation now. 

He observed the scene suddenly, trying to figure out what was happening. 

His eyes drifted to a recognisable glow emitting from the blonde’s hands. 

With a face washed over concern, having realised what was about to take place, he dashed in front of Lucas, sliding himself in the small distance between the blonde and the bullies. 

The five blinked in confusion at the new arrival.

“Hey fellas.. I thought it was class time?” 

the boy’s brows were furrowed, yet he made a wobbly smile in an attempt to look calm and not escalate the situation further. 

Lucas’ face twisted in a puzzled fashion as the bullies cackled with laughter, 

“that’s rich coming from you! You come late every class! You have some nerve coming here, we’ll be happy to…” 

they rambled on, packing several insults, talking down to the black haired boy like it was instinct. 

By the way that they were talking, Lucas assumed they knew each other quite well. Maybe he was a bully target.

While they continued to become distracted, the boy turned his head slightly and whispered to Lucas a single word.

His voice hid his panic fairly well, but his tone was lined with an undertone of someone who was deadly serious. 

“Run.” he said, 

and Lucas did, as soon as he was told the signal. 

And It worked too, 

the four had shifted all their focus on the black haired boy and hadn’t even thought about where the blond had gone off to. 

He ran and ran and ran, his heart pacing and his body aching.

And, above all, he knew he wasn’t in danger. But in the end, he was still a child. 

The new experience he’d been stressing about for a while had come, and he had hoped and convinced himself with all his heart that nothing serious or bad would happen, it should be fine, he thought.

But things weren’t fine. 

he had almost gotten into a fight, and he felt like crying from just being anxious and shaken up from confrontation. 

He would never let those tears fall though. 

He had changed, he wasn’t a crybaby or a wimp anymore. 

He was strong now, sustaining and rebuilding himself all on his own for those 3 years with no help or support.

At first glance, you would think that Lucas’ first and confident option was to fight it out. But upon closer look, you could see that his brain was flipping between ‘fight’ or ‘flight’. The fight part of him was angry, and wanted to teach them a lesson, the flight part wanted to run for his life. 

He couldn't stop himself overthinking about what had just occurred. 

If this happened on his first day, what will the rest of the year be like?

Will it be worse than Tazmily? Worse than porky? 

What had happened to the boy after he ran off? 

He felt bad for just fleeing from the scene.

Maybe the boy couldn’t defend himself? 

And why were those kids so damn rude and nasty? 

He guessed not only most adults were bad, and maybe also most kids. 

His head hurt. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The final bell had rung for the end of the last period.

Lucas began to search for the boy in hopes of making sure that he was fine, and to tell him thank you, and that he wouldn’t need to be helped next time because he had psi. 

His mind was so full of thoughts that he forgot he was supposed to meet up with Claus before going home. 

Luckily for him, he had found his older twin first before the raven-haired, refreshing his memory regarding meeting up with his brother.

“Claus!”

the blonde smiled, suddenly hugging his brother.

The red head flinched, before smiling and hugging back fondly, 

“where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere! I was worried I wouldn’t find you..” he said as a faint blush appeared over his freckles. 

Claus was still learning to re-accept physical affection, so it always tended to startled him a bit. 

Lucas laughed, feeling the warmth now filling his chest,

“even if you wouldn’t of found me, we’d always end up back together silly! We live in the same house!” 

the psychic grinned, his previous stress melting away. 

“Oh yeah…” Claus whispered sheepishly, 

his blush grew brighter a few shades, before returning to normal, 

“anyway, how’d everything go with you? I was fine, like you said, no one talked to me and it was just boring, that's all. Tracy was totally right.”

Lucas sighed, scratching the back of his head, skin prickling with discomfort, 

“i’ll… tell you later… can I meet you at home? I need to find someone”

Claus gave him a neutral, but curious look, 

“guess you met someone then. Why ya trying to find ‘em?” 

The blond shook his head slightly, “it’s kind of a long story.. I’ll.. I'll tell you later” 

he exhaled, trying not to let his brain continue overthinking. 

Claus decided to cut things short, picking up on Lucas’ clear signs of discomfort, 

“ok. That’s fair. Don’t expect me to do your chores though!” 

he deadpanned as he waved, beginning to walk out of the school building, 

“see you at home Luke.” 

Lucas smiled and made a little wave in return. 

The blonde dashed off to begin his search, but he didn’t realise he was going a little too fast, and so ended up bumping into someone with an unnatural amount of force.

“Owww ow ow……” the poor victim winced as they fell to their knees, holding onto their nose in pain. 

Lucas’ eyes widened in shock as he bent down in a hurry to try heal them,

“are you ok? Let me see your nose…” 

his fingers glided over the hands covering the boy’s nose, an indirect question of whether to be permitted to lift them off manually. 

The boy’s squinted eyes opened slightly, revealing a set of purple eyes.

Lucas felt the raven’s hands becoming less tensed, an indication that permission has been given. 

He moved the purple eyed boy's hands out of the way gently, and looked in surprise. 

There was blood. 

He then discovered he recognised the raven’s face, and smiled to himself. 

He had knocked into the exact person he was trying to find. 

Lucas giggled and hovered his hand over the small teen’s face, 

“you’ll be fine in a sec, just relax,” the blonde said gently, letting psi wander through his fingertips.

“Wait!” 

the black haired boy raised his voice suddenly. 

Lucas stopped, looking puzzled, 

“it’s ok I won’t hurt you it- WHOAA-” 

the young psychic wobbled, suddenly rising to his feet as the boy took his arm firmly, yet gently, and ran off, dragging him to a secluded place behind a staircase.

“What the heck was that?! I was just trying to heal you!” the blonde remarked, shocked and a little confused. 

A sheepish look presented across the boy‘s features, 

“I know. i’m sorry I did that but..” 

he hesitated, looking to be having a bit of trouble getting himself together,

“don’t you know it’s a bad idea to use psi in a school?” 

he replied, putting his arm over his nose to stop the bleeding. 

Lucas’ brows furrowed in confusion, 

“psi? You know about psi?” 

he stopped before he could continue asking questions, scolding himself for not realising sooner. 

The purple-eyed boy in front of him was covered head to toe in scratches and bruises, which were definitely not there on him beforehand. 

He most likely didn’t defend himself against those bullies, and had gotten himself beaten up. 

Concern and guilt washed over Lucas’ face, 

“did you defend yourself at all from them?” he asked sternly, grabbing the boy’s arm and using lifeup(a) before he could make any objections. 

A soft blue, yellow and pink emitted from the blonde’s fingertips, slowly giving colour back to bruises, sealing wounds, and recovering any former injuries. 

As he worked his psi, he took note of the little quirks in the boy’s appearance. 

Other than the peculiar colour in his eyes, he had freckles placed all over his body randomly, but they seemed a little more faded than the ones he and his brother had, 

and his cheeks looked to be fairly rosy. 

He was quite small in size too, Lucas noticed, seeing as he looked to be much shorter than any of the other kids he had known, or seen around. 

he snapped out of his train of thought, realising he was done healing.

“All done! Feeling better?” he asked gently.

Without even looking at whether his injuries had healed, the raven nodded, 

“thanks”

Lucas assumed he either had full confidence in the healing abilities, or he had seen someone else do it before, or else he would've probably looked a little more shocked or surprised.

“How do you know about psi? And why shouldn’t I use it in school?” the blond asked, genuinely curious as to why this boy was against his psi usage. 

The boy perked an eyebrow,

“People can start asking you to fight people for them. After they know you can heal, they’ll come to you with every petty injury they have, with no care as to how much energy your spending. People can use you just for your powers, and when you’ve had enough of them taking advantage of you, they’ll start calling you a freak,” 

he said simply, taking a tissue out of his bag to clean the dry blood from his nose. 

Lucas grimaced at the long list of issues, while the boy nodded at his expression

“yeah, that’s why I tried to stop you healing me in public.” the black haired boy responded. 

“anyway, I won’t hold you, and I better get going back home too-” 

“Wait!” 

Lucas interrupted. 

The small teen stopped as the blond hesitated, 

“I just wanted to thank you for before, and um.. Next time i’ll be ok. I may not look it, but i’m pretty tough!” he said, lifting his arm in a mock flex. 

The raven smiled to himself and giggled,

“I thought you would be, I was saving them more than you I think. You could’ve knocked them out cold! But even still, it’s better to deal with a fight not alone.” 

They both laughed, then walked from behind the stairway and stood together in front of the doorway leading out the school.

The two stared in silence for a while, until Lucas looked at the other boy and flashed a smile,

“I guess i’ll see you around?” 

The raven responded with a nod. 

They went out simultaneously, going in the same way for around a few minutes, laughing awkwardly at their misfortune in direction, and timing in saying goodbye. 

After ten minutes of walking, they still walked the same path, causing them to gaze at each other with puzzled looks.

They continued not to question it until Lucas’ home was a mere 2 minute walk away.

This kid was still walking with him, so that must mean…. 

“Where do you live?” the blonde questioned, as they both stopped suddenly. 

“My place is just here.” 

the raven responded, pointing to the house next to them. 

The young psychic chuckled, 

“then that must mean we’re neighbours! My house is just a little further up the hill!” he remarked chipperly, quite happy about this new fact. 

“Huh, so your our new neighbour,” 

he smiled, waving at Lucas, 

“well, it was nice meeting you!” he said, walking into his house.

Lucas caught the boy’s smile the whole way back home, suddenly forgetting that the day he had was mostly filled with tragedy. 

Claus noticed it off the bat, not being one to ignore his brother’s big expressions, 

“Heya Luke, your definitely in high spirits, what happened?” the ginger sniggered, flashing a huge grin. 

“None of your business,” the blond teased, sticking his tongue out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i imagined claus just being either: his old self, or mentally tired. he switches between the two constantly, but he's improved a lot from when he first reunited with lucas. i'm proud of him, also ness can't sleep XD


	4. memories and gremlins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long, school hates me.

Milk usually has the same appearance no matter how you look at it, but when you’ve had 5 or maybe 3 hours of sleep, it can look like all sorts of interesting things.

Ness blinked every few seconds, trying to make the milk look less misshapen and more normal, since it seemed more amusing than actually eating. 

“Oh, so you're actually up at a normal time for once?” Tracy remarked matter-of-factly as she sat down at the small table, fully dressed and ready for school.

With his eyes half opened, the small boy looked away, seemingly annoyed from just waking up. 

“I don’t always oversleep Tracy.” he yawned, his face almost falling into his bowl of cereal. 

The blonde girl cocked an eyebrow in disbelief, seemingly wanting to annoy her brother as much as possible. 

“are you suuurrrreeee?” she mocked him with full consciousness of her actions. 

Ness sent a small glare at his sister, suggesting that this wasn’t the time for this, “yes.” he said simply as his limited patience for mornings began to run low.

Tracy squinted her eyes at him and pulled her mouth into a sly smile, “then how come you never walk with me? Cause y’know, I actually get out of the house on _time_.” she challenged him, no remorse evident in her voice. 

The boy groaned in defeat, as their mother came around behind him and began softly brushing out his messy bed-hair. 

"Tracy, please be nice to your brother, even if he is a bit grumpy in the mornings. Though that said, your sister is right Ness, you should really be ready earlier, since I let you oversleep sometimes." 

She smiled with a mischievous undertone, as Tracy decided that this was a great opportunity to stick her tongue out at her brother. 

Ness just rolled his eyes and ignored her, but despite what seemed to be his sudden stoicness, circular psi markings coloured red, blue and yellow did however, appear on the tips of his fingers.

This did not mean he was at all threatening her, unconsciously, his hands just tended to glow when he was particularly stressed, anxious or agitated. Luckily he had his powers under control and wouldn’t likely hurt anyone, accidentally or not, unless of course something dire were to break that control.

Regardless, Tracy took that as a cue to stop. 

Ness was more vulnerable to blowing up in the mornings, which meant you just had to look at his hands to see whether you were saying too much or not. This was not the case usually for any other time of the day, you'd have to read him from the face like any other person. 

She knew she was far from danger if she kept going, but regardless of the fun she was having, she had school to go to and neighbours to annoy.

Tracy got up suddenly, having already finished her breakfast, unlike her brother, who was still staring at his. 

"Well, I'd love to see Ness suffer as you attempt to make his hair look nice, but I have school to go to, and I need to guide the neighbours.” 

she said almost jumping out of her seat. 

“T-Tracy? What do you mean ‘guide’?” the mother said, a little concerned she was gonna get yet another complaint from the neighbours. 

Ness’ sister giggled, flashing a mischievous grin across her face, 

“well, they’re kinda dumb and couldn’t find the school last time, even if you can see it from here. So they’re probably still lost, and out of the kindness of my heart, I thought I could help them again!” she said making an innocent face, despite only seconds ago having thrown a barrage of insults at her brother.

Ness furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief subtly, unfortunately she noticed this quickly, expecting this response somewhat, 

“oh Ness, you're just jealous because you’ll never be a person with kindness such as mine..” Tracy remarked in mock drama. 

“My name is literally in the word.” he sighed tiredly, unaware of the quick comeback he had just made.

“Well.. it’s also in dumbness…! So take that! See ya mom! Love you!” the girl retorted, running out of the door with lightning speed.

“Come onnnn Lucas! We’ll be late if you don’t hurry up! You take ages! I’ll totally be old when you finish!” Claus complained, pacing around restlessly in front of the door.

A loud laugh sounded in a different room, 

“HA HA! HE’S RIGHT LUKE!” Kumatora cackled, all the way from the bathroom. 

“I DO NOT!! And Claus! You don’t even have a right to complain! You're not even ready! Your hair’s a mess!” the blonde replied as he walked up sternly to his twin. 

Lucas' hair was uncharacteristically ungelled and falling into his eyes, still without his shoes, but otherwise dressed. 

The ginger gasped in disbelief, “what are you talking about?! It was the same as it was yesterday!” he retorted, holding onto his hair for protection.

“No it’s not! It looks like you’ve stayed in bed for hours! Just let me neaten it up a bit,” Lucas rolled his eyes and then smiled at his brother’s reaction. 

Claus shook his head aggressively in disapproval, 

“Nuh-uh! The last time you did that my hair was too neat! I looked like a nerd!”

Lucas sighed, then giggled softly, 

“I won’t do that again, it’ll be like it usually is, i’m just making it a bit tidier, that’s all. Sit down while I get a brush," he said, clearly ignoring the amount of no's his brother was sputtering at him.

The red-headed groaned as Lucas came not long after with a stool and a small brush in hand. 

"You're not serious…" Claus grimaced. 

Lucas set the stool down and cocked an eyebrow, 

"what? did you think I was joking?" 

He retorted, patting the seat of the stool, gesturing for his brother to sit, 

"come on Claus, it'll be nice! I won't do much to it I promise!" Lucas remarked, a little bit of sadness (deliberate or not) glistening in the blue of his eyes. T

he slightly older twin made a 'tch' as he sat down with his arms crossed and a displeased look spread on his face. 

"Fine." 

He responded, to Lucas' shameless pleasure.

As the blond began combing the bristles gently through Claus' fine hair, the older twin couldn’t help but start to dream off. 

And strangely enough, when he blinked, things were slightly different. 

All the colours around the house had turned into a soft pastel pallet, and suddenly, nearly everything was made out of wood. 

All that was unfamiliar soon became familiar, and even maybe a little hazy. 

He looked at his hands and found that surprisingly enough, all his scars were gone.

His hands looked smaller and younger too, and he began to figure it out but- 

"Mommy I don't wanna change my hair though!" 

A voice from his chest that wasn't his rung out. 

"Don't worry sweetie, I won't ruin it, promise" 

another voice called out,

Claus' heart rate began to go a mile a second. 

The woman's blurred figure cleared with every soft and gentle step she took towards him. 

"No! No I can't I- I can't deal with seeing you again I-" 

his voice was just empty air, as someone spoke words for him again. 

The boy he seemed to be inhabiting made a pout, moisture building up in his eyes, 

"I like it the way it is! Why do you have to change it?!" 

A high pitched whine protested, his cheeks seemed to puff up and water fell from his eyes. 

The ginger froze in place, his head going blank and his thoughts becoming blurry. 

The woman's familiar chocolate brown hair and caring eyes made Claus' brain hurt. 

She sighed and bent down to him, regardless of the way his heart clawed painfully at his chest, almost threatening to rip open his rib-cage.

"Claus." 

She said gently, as the sniffling that echoed through lungs that were not his, stopped temporarily. 

She stroked his head calmly and gave him a smile, 

"you can hardly see like this, it's just getting a bit long, that’s all. Please Claus? Will you do it for me? I swear I won't change it".

The boy sniffled and looked at his mom with glistening green eyes, 

"just for you?" he asked tentatively. 

She giggled lightly, 

"just for me" 

the woman said, her voice soft and warm. 

He looked down at the floor and wiped his tears off his face, "promise you won't change it too much?"

The woman pushed his orange hair out the way and gently kissed her son's forehead,

"I promise".

Things blurred, and then suddenly his head seemed to feel lighter. 

Familiar combing patterns caressed his head and he found that he could now see better. 

Claus enjoyed the feeling of the bristles gliding gently through his scalp, which strangely felt most like it was real. 

The brushing stopped, though he could still feel it, and suddenly his mother approached his younger self again. 

"Feel better?" She smiled, and he could feel his younger self reaching in for a hug, 

"all better." A high voice not belonging to him responded.

Claus felt bitter sweet thorns pierce his chest as the stroking feeling stopped, and Lucas was calling his name.

"Claus? I'm done. Claus? You there?" 

The blond said, laughing a little as he waved his hand in front of his brother’s face. 

Claus blinked a few times before turning his head to Lucas in surprise, "wait you're done?" He responded, a hint of disappointment glittering in his eyes. 

The young psychic sniggered in delight, 

"aww Claus, it seems you were actually quite enjoying it!" 

Lucas remarked playfully, as he began walking to the bathroom to do his own hair.

"W-wait! Lucas! It wasn't like that I-" he sputtered, following close behind his brother. 

Lucas only smiled maliciously at his own reflection as red quickly spread over his older twin’s features. 

Before continuing to mutter words of denial, Claus began staring at himself, admiring Lucas' work. 

He smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, 

"you did a good job actually.." the ginger muttered softly as his brother gave him a smug grin,

"told you so," Lucas retorted shamelessly. 

"I'm gonna go ahead ya slow poke," Claus laughed, about to head off towards the door, 

"and um Lucas?"

He faltered, holding the door handle gingerly. 

The blond hummed and turned his head, his hair half gelled up,

"your brushing reminds me of mom" he muttered softly, going out the room without another word. 

Lucas froze in place, his voice unable to escape his mouth.

Claus opened the door, only to grimace at what he found. 

Tracy was there, making a big smug grin, and from then on, the ginger knew she would try to piss him off as much as it was humanly possible. 

He groaned, and held the bridge of his nose, as he already felt a headache forming, 

"Tracy, what are you doing here." Claus said, scrunching his face in displeasure. 

The girl flashed a smile with glee, "I am sooo glad you asked Clausy!" Tracy remarked, attempting to invite herself in, but quickly being stopped by Claus blocking the doorway with an agitated look on his face.

"Ho no, you're not allowed in. And don't call me that either'' He said sternly, tapping his feet impatiently. 

Ness' younger sister sighed, shaking her head in disapproval, 

"aww Clausy, your no fun." She retorted, deliberately hiding a sly smile.

Claus cocked an eyebrow, 

"Well if I'm no fun, then maybe you should go annoy your brother or something instead… you.. have a brother right?" He asked, giving her a blunt look of disgust. 

Tracy laughed at his attempt at a threat, and smirked with pleasure, 

"jeez Claus, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I just wanted to guide you to school, since you got so hopelessly lost last time" She said, no remorse in her actions. 

"We didn't get lost! How dumb do you think we are? We’ll know the way after the first time you dope." He retorted, rolling his eyes, with an unimpressed look on his face. 

Tracy sniggered, her grin growing larger, 

"I really doubt that. I'm sure you're just using Lucas' sense of direction to stop you from slamming headfirst into a tree every second," the blonde girl taunted, every hint of anger on Claus' face making her feel more accomplished. 

The freckled boy’s fist clenched, and he readied a better insult to throw back, before turning around to the sound of a door being opened.

Luckily for Claus, Lucas had come just in time for a rescue. 

He put his hands on his hips and sighed, 

"are you two fighting again?" The blond groaned, despite his tone suggesting he was being playful. 

“Oh no no no, we weren’t fighting! I was just asking if you two needed directions again!” Tracy grinned, as Claus suppressed the urge to say otherwise. 

Lucas sniggered, “it’s ok Tracy, we know the way. Did you want to walk with us?” the young psychic smiled,

“what?! W-wha- I didn’t agree to this!” the ginger grimaced, as Tracy almost squealed with delight. 

“Course I’ll come! Why, it wouldn’t be the same without me!” the young girl remarked smugly to Claus' dismay.

______________________________________

"You alright Claus?" Lucas asked, putting his books down carefully on a desk seated next to his brother.

The ginger looked at him through half lidded eyes, and sighed, waving his hand in dismissal, 

"I'm fine Lu, just a bit tired." Claus responded, hoping his expressions were slipping right past his twin. 

Lucas cocked an eyebrow, then gave him a sceptical look, "you're seriously going to keep trying to pretend your ok around me? It's gotten old Claus, just tell me what's wrong." The blond remarked, shaking his head with disappointment. 

Claus looked off to the distance, feeling unable to keep eye contact "it's dumb, don't worry about it." He retorted, sounding exhausted. 

Lucas leaned into his brother's space and ruffled his red hair lightly, getting his attention, "please don't keep things from me.. I'm worried about you, and I'm afraid you'll start bottling things up.. please Claus it's important that you talk about things. How small or dumb it sounds doesn't matter to me." The young psychic remarked, gazing at Claus with concern twinkling in his eyes. 

The ginger’s expression hardened,

"it's not important" He protested, as Lucas made a sour look on his face. 

"It's important to me" The blond retorted, shortly getting a shout from the teacher to be quiet. 

Claus shrugged, making a gesture to the teacher as an excuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if some are wondering about how the conversation went with Lucas and Claus, basically Luke recapped and Claus was semi surprised, and went: so we live next door to another possible psychic and or knows psychics? Isn't that suspicious? Lucas goes to say it is, but he that the black haired kid did nothing wrong, and there was no reason to be nasty or really cautious of him for nothing.


	5. Glowing circles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking!!! posted!!! turns out this chapter was ready for a while. anyways i'm not dead! I'll try to update sooner than I did for this chapter. also yeah i know the other chapters are crappy, but the newer ones will hopefully be better.

Making sure he didn’t mess this up was his priority. If he misplaced even a single bit of his weight, hell would surely break loose. Ness curled his fingers tentatively around the door handle, adding pressure to it gradually until the door could open upon his command at any moment he desired. 

He was on time. For once, anyways. It was a rarity. A golden occurrence in time, and thus, a perfect excuse for the kids in his class to begin to prod and tease him for it. Why they found so many dumb things he did, wrong or right, absolutely hilarious was completely beyond him. Despite that it happens pretty much everyday, he'd still take any chance he could to avoid being teased. Ness had enough experience with bullying to know that a day without it would mean the world to him. Porky used to torment him with it, adults couldn’t help but prod at his lack of height and excess weight around the edges, and his classmates could laugh at the fact that he has eyes for all he knows. What fate would he meet today then? It seemed his everyday teasing problems were essentially trivial compared to his previous world changing ones. 

The door handle finally clicked under his weight, only a glint from the classroom to be seen. The teen instinctively squinted his eyes, already expecting some agitated name calling from the people inside. But alas, the only sound he registered was the general chit chat that was normal to a classroom. The raven opened his eyes slowly, breathing a sigh of relief, his fingertips buzzing slightly with a strange warmth he has always recognised. He tentatively opened the door, pacing through it with his heart beating loudly in his ears.

Though some people gave him a few sour looks, no one seemed to be in the mood to bother him today. Though his heart rate said otherwise, he was full to the brim with relief. He sat himself down in a secluded seat in the corner, intending to be as far from the action as possible. The raven’s purple eyes raced around the room, his vision blurring up around the edges as his body relaxed in his seat. Ness’ head weighed him down like a 70 ton achor, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to rest on something. His thoughts swam like headless chickens lost and drowning in the ocean. 4 hours of sleep is the best the teen got, and as such, his body may have been in the classroom, but the rest of him was back in bed.

The small boy must’ve zoned out through the lesson again, because apparently the teacher had been talking for a while. Not only that, but also it seemed she had been disturbed by something, and it must have been interesting, because not one student had their head turned away from the action.

“Hey! You! The new kid over there! Quiet or I'm moving you!”   
That was maybe what the teacher said,   
the raven was unsure, only having heard “QUIET KID!” and nothing else.

The small boy’s fingertips ignited with a burning warmth that made him feel like his hands would explode from the inside out. Because of his lack of sleep, It took him a few good seconds to realise the teacher wasn’t directing her anger at him for once, given that he’s definitely not the ‘new kid’ she’s mentioning. Colours emitted painfully from his fingers due to his current surprise. The small boy wrapped his hands around each other in an attempt to hide the minor glowing, which would hopefully subside soon enough anyways. 

As he did so, the argument continued aggressively.

The new boy, who Ness could not peer at, due to being occupied, apparently had either never seen a school in his life, or had been dunked in a bath full of confidence as a baby.  
  
“And? That’s a lousy threat just for some noise I made, it’s not like I was rude or anything.” the boy retorted. If he wasn’t shouting, Ness would’ve thought that his voice actually sounded quite pleasant. It was a nice in-between from high and low, and he swore he heard a bit of an accent in his tone.

“Excuse me?” the teacher responded in shock. Her eyes had a laser focus on the student now, and though she was clearly trying to hide it, her fists shook with restrained fury.

  
“What? Why are you threatening me for making a little noise? I wasn’t even talking that loud!” The new boy deadpanned, despite his voice being raised. He seemed to be genuinely unaware of what the teacher thought he was doing wrong. 

What the heck. Whoever this new kid is, they must be pretty freaking cool to not care about a teacher shouting at them. That, or maybe he really hasn’t been in a school before.

He couldn’t help himself anymore. Carefully guarding his still glowing hands, Ness turned around to then see a familiar looking blond boy behind the voice. 

That… hair… 

‘_Is.. is that the tough blond kid that gave me a blood nose yesterday?_’ he thought to himself, trying to recall the whole peculiar event that occurred the day before.

Well to be fair. He wasn’t really allowed to call things peculiar anymore.

Upon a minute of silent observation, he knew that it was, indeed, 100% that same kid. It’s impossible not to be. No one had hair that was gelled in the… unique.. Way that he did. 

Ness’ hands began burning, almost like ants nibbling away at him from the inside of his fingers. Why did they do this? He didn’t know. It was best not to waste time questioning it and instead hide the pain and glowing.

“It’d be wise of you not to push me any further today.”

“Me push you? You threatened me for making some noise!”

The raven’s brows furrowed. 

What was he doing? 

Theres one thing about being confident, but this just didn’t seem like confidence at all. He should know by now that the education system just- kinda…. Does this... the hierarchy? The lack of fairness? Shouldn’t he be aware enough to at least be a little more careful? The response seemed to be confidence out of ignorance.

“That’s enough! Go to the office!”

Things are going too quickly.

The look on the blond’s face showed the raven that the boy was probably going to say something that would cause him more than a mere detention.

Wasn’t it only his second day here?

Another sharp burn through the fingertips. What _was_ going on with his hands today?

  
Quick. He needs to make a quick decision. Something that will get the kid out of trouble, but also allow Ness time to explain to the blond about the boundaries he should be careful to cross.

God.

He’s gonna be seen as so annoying to him.

“…………”

That’d be okay, as long as the new guy doesn’t learn the hard way how harsh school can be towards actions done with common sense.

The scene was already starting to play out, the kid was already beginning another remark. “Mhm. and what makes you think i’ll-”

“I’ll take him there miss!” Ness’ tentative voice rang through the suddenly quiet classroom.

A thousand merciless eyes glared at him the second sound dared escape his lips. 

‘_Be strong when you need it for once Ness_’ the raven begged himself, his eyes drifting to the floor in an attempt to will himself out of this situation.

“And why would you suggest this? If he thinks he’s so smart, he should find his own way” The teacher scowled with clear disapproval.

Another sudden glimmer of blood-lust in the blond’s eyes, he was gonna dig himself in a deeper hole if Ness didn’t interrupt him quick enough. 

“Um, but miss he’s new, someone should probably make sure he doesn’t get lost.” 

The teacher considered his statement, while from the other side of the room, Lucas argued with his twin about interpretations of what the heck was going on. As expected, people around the room began to whisper as well. 

_“*snort* Is he that desperate to find a friend that he just picks the random new guy?”_

_“God how pathetic Ness, resorting to sucking up to the teacher?”_

_“I didn’t think he could become any more boring or plain”_

_“What a dumbass.”_

_“Ha, idiot.”_

Ness felt a line engrave on his arm. They were right, he thought. Mostly anyways. Not about sucking up and trying to be with the new kid, but more about being boring and pathetic. He knew it was right, and he accepted it. No need to dwell on it. It was just facts. Ness could always defend himself sure, but what was the point? If they were right, no need to say otherwise. He had discovered long ago anyways that sometimes you gotta be assertive in a quiet way, just ignoring and accepting things. But if there was ever a need to stand up for himself in an alerting way, he’d do it. He may not like conflict, but he wasn’t a doormat.

“Alright class quiet down, you can talk amongst yourselves while i’m dealing with this but KEEP THE NOISE DOWN.” the teacher scolded, adding a small glare to the especially loud students.

  
She then turned her gaze to Ness and sighed, “go show him to the office. As much as i’d hate to make you miss out on class time, I just want you to hang around him and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

The small boy’s eyes drifted to the floor. That wasn’t exactly his plan, but that may as well be an excuse to talk to the blonde outside of class time. After a small, blank nod in response, the teacher turned her sharp gaze to Lucas. “What’s your name?” She asked, aggravation tracing her voice. 

  
The blond returned the glare.

“Lucas.”

“Well Lucas, you’re going to go to the office with Ness here. He’ll show you there.”

The young psychic was about to protest, before looking over at the raven with curiosity. Ness tried to make a face conveying that he wasn’t exactly planning on doing what she says, hoping that the blonde would get it. 

Lucas furrowed his brows in response, then looked over at his twin, who only shrugged and suggested that he better go, to at least understand what was happening. After giving the teacher a small scowl, he stood up and followed Ness out the door not looking too pleased, their classmates giving them the occasional glare and chuckle.

The door closed behind them.

“You again?” the boy, apparently named Lucas deadpanned, “what do you want from me now? I’m not going to the office, whether it’s your orders or hers.”

The raven walked a little further from the classroom door, standing near a cushioned chair down the hall a bit, gesturing for Lucas to follow. He can’t talk about how to flip off the system in a proper way if the teacher is in hearing range.

Lucas gave him an agitated look, before walking over and joining him, seeing as the small boy didn’t plan on going to this ‘office’. He must’ve wanted something else from him then.

“Sorry, I just thought it’s probably better to talk away from the classroom door.” Ness remarked, looking down at his feet sheepishly. 

The raven’s whole body screamed.

  
He was okay… he should be ok. He’s just talking to this guy named Lucas. That doesn’t mean he needs to be his friend, or talk to him regularly. There's no chance of that anyway, he’s no good, as a friend anyways. Thinking back, it must’ve been a pain for Paula, Jeff and Poo to be around him. That’s all he’s ever been, just somebody who disappoints everyone. That’s probably why Porky left anyways…. Hurt them… sided with Giygas… 

“……”

The raven’s breathing became suddenly heavy.

Lucas bent his head to meet Ness’ downward gaze, confused and slightly agitated with the sudden silence.

Right right right. He has to let him know how to deal with the system. How long had he zoned out? 

  
“Uh sorry....um. are you by any chance new to the school system?” the raven questioned, not daring to look up from his lap. Suddenly, pain shot through his fingers again. 

Ugh, why now? 

The raven shoved his hands in his pockets in an attempt to hide the glowing.  
  
Lucas’ face tensed, but then slowly eased.

“......yeah….I am...” 

The blond’s eyes wouldn’t leave Ness’ hands.

He glared at the small boy and perked an eyebrow.

Lucas had seen it, hadn’t he? There's no way he didn’t, given the sudden change in his atmosphere. It changed from confused and snappy to stern and cold too quickly to be a coincidence.

Ness looked the other direction, begging that the blond would leave his burning hands alone. He just needed to keep talking. Hopefully that’ll seem normal enough to distract Lucas.

“Uhm..-”

“Were your hands glowing just now?” the blond retorted, giving the purple eyed boy a sceptical look.

His fingers increased in so much heat, it almost felt like they’d burn a hole through his short pockets. What was he going to say? Lie? He doesn’t like lying, but he’s done it before and he’ll do it again if he needs to. That probably wouldn’t work anyways, Lucas looks way too observant. The blond would see through it straight away wouldn’t he? Ness was hesitating, not answering the question. Just standing there, avoiding eye-contact.

Lucas was untrained with a reaction for this. His mind only raced with worry. The survival instinct he was forced to learn at a young age was always first to act on his decisions. If this kid was potentially dangerous… potentially a psychic- this could be life threatening to him, to Claus, to Kuma- everyone. Since the fire, and since the pigmask and Porky, he could never be too careful. His emotions were out of balance. Just a day ago he was chipper, with only a bit of dread regarding Ness and other things, but now… he was full of all kinds of feelings. Was he angry? Scared? Panicked? Numb? Doesn’t matter. _Doesn’t matter_. 

Lucas’ hands felt hot. His chest felt hot. 

He needs to see those hands. Doesn’t matter if it’s rude. Even if it was weird for his view of a person to change in a day. He could be- no, the raven would be the psychic Kumatora mentioned, and that means he’s nothing but a danger.

_'Act now. Act now like you didn’t all those years ago. Better safe then sorry.'_ his mind screamed.

Taking advantage of Ness’ few seconds of blankness, he took his wrist, which was just peeking out of his pocket, and put the boy’s hand upright against the wall. 

Ness’ back and arm was now against the wall. He winced from the burning as his fingers fanned out, exposing the colourful circles imprinted on his fingertips.


End file.
